Sir, – I am writing to offer a solution to the problem of
African infiltration into Israel (“Hundreds call for immediate mass deportations
of African migrants at TA rally,” May 31).

In biblical times six cities
were set up as places of refuge to protect people who unintentionally had killed
others. Perhaps such places could help solve our problem with migrants who must
run away from their homes and countries because they are being mistreated, even
to the degree of being murdered.

Jews know the feeling of fleeing and not
being accepted by anyone.

We can set up refugee camps to feed and clothe
these migrants. It is a step better than letting them die of starvation, but
where is the dignity? Maimonides, the great medieval philosopher, taught us that
the highest form of charity and loving kindness was to make the recipient
independent and self-sufficient, providing him with the means to become a
dignified member of society.

Entire cities of refuge could be governed by
the migrants themselves.

The only thing that would be demanded of them is
that they provide every member of their society with basic human rights, the
rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This is an
opportunity to set up a utopian community. It would serve our interests in
spreading our values. If democracy means only the right to vote, we have failed.
Unless there are institutions that incorporate our system of values, we will
have failed. It would be a way of bringing peace and democracy to the world
rather then fighting costly wars.

What is needed is money, lots of money,
to bring this plan to fruition. This new society would need guidance in how to
govern, and money to educate its citizens to be skilled workers, to create a
thriving economy, to help them until they are able to stand on their own
feet.

Either the United Nations or a group of democratic nations can
assume the financial burden. We have the know-how; all we need is the
will.

SHIRLEY KOOLYK Jerusalem

Sir, – MK Isaac Herzog (“The next national
target: Eritrea,” Observations, May 25) appears to overlook the fact that there
are 216,000 unemployed Israeli citizens. Therefore, why should we establish a
treaty that would permit these illegal infiltrators to work here and take away
jobs from our own citizens? Furthermore, we should question how these people
made their way here from their countries of origin. Was it by foot or were they
transported via Egypt to very close to our border? Did they come with any means
of support or savings? If they didn’t, which organizations are funding them? If
none are, how do they survive economically? How is it they are able to set up
businesses here? Once we have answers to these questions we can discuss what
should be done.

But not before.

COLIN L. LECI Jerusalem

Sir, – Say
that 80,000 Gazans unhappy with Hamas illegally cross into Israel, and that
50,000 settle in south Tel Aviv.

Would the government sit on its hands?
Would the people who are “ashamed” of Israel still bleat? Would the Left still
compare us to the Third Reich? Would some of us say that we as Jews have
suffered, so we must be empathetic? Just asking!

JEFFREY MARLOWE Tel Aviv

Sir, –
The echoes from the Holocaust have seemingly fallen on deaf ears. How dare we
turn our backs on these migrants? If a major earthquake happened in Africa,
Israel would be quickest to respond. No one would dare ask about the “status” of
the people being treated.

Apparently, when the problem comes to our soil
no one wants to deal with it.

Yes, there is a problem with crime. That is
why we have jails.

We should do something about the criminals, not the
people as a whole. We should be ashamed of ourselves for lumping them
together.

We should never turn our backs on other human beings. It did
not take any more or less effort for God to create them than it did for Him to
create us.

MICHELLE AARON Hashmonaim

Doesn’t square

Sir, – With regard to
“PM, Obama ‘trust each other,’ says Shapiro” (May 31), how can this be squared
with the fact that last month the US president overrode Congress and quietly
lifted the ban on aid to Palestinians under the guise of “assisting in
infrastructure, education, humanitarian aid and health projects....?” In
justifying the reinstatement of aid, Obama’s National Security Council spokesman
said: “The PA has recognized Israel’s right to exist, renounced violence and
accepted previous agreements, including the Roadmap to a peace plan.”

Not
a word of this is true.

Itamar Marcus, head of Palestine Media Watch,
reported to staffers on Capitol Hill: “The Palestinian Authority is in total
violation of these principles detailed by the White House and actually uses US
aid to teach its youth to hate Israel and become violent terrorists intent on
eliminating the Jewish State.”

It is not surprising that some Israelis
have embraced the idea that Obama has become the unofficial spokesman for the
Palestinian point of view and has moved the American government into an
adversarial relationship with Israel.

MEIR ABELSON Upper Motza

Camp gaffe

Sir, – US President Barack Obama’s remark about “Polish death camps” (“Poland:
US apology for ‘death camp’ remarks insufficient,” May 31) is not surprising –
he is often careless with references to history.

However, it should be
clear to the news media to know the proper terms and to correct him when
necessary.

We should really be talking of “German death camps in occupied
Poland.” The camps were administered by the SS, not by Poles, and the crimes
committed there were Nazi crimes.

Over 6,000 Poles were honored by Yad
Vashem for saving Jews.

Regrettably, Poland, too, at intervals
participated in anti- Semitism. But I feel a duty of thanks to this land, which
was a haven of refuge for about 1,000 years for Jewish people under persecution
in other countries.

Being a Holocaust survivor from Poland, I wish to see
the record set straight, even in honor of my family members who did not
survive.

HILLEL GOLDBERG Jerusalem

Sir, – To paraphrase Shakespeare, the
Polish prime minister doth protest too much, methinks! Donald Tusk’s words are
part of a Polish spin effort to bury the true history of Poland during WWII,
which included the massacre by Poles of 1,600 Jews, of whom 250-300 were burned
alive, at Jedwabne in July 1941.

Polish Cardinal Jozef Glemp has stated
on Warsaw’s Catholic radio station that “death by immolation of (some of) the
Jewish population, pushed into a barn by Poles, is incontestable.”

GERRY
MYERS Beit Zayit

Deeply cynical

Sir, – I am saddened and a bit stupefied when
Seth J. Frantzman writes: “Human rights organizations and the peace industry are
beholden to the occupation, addicted to it” (“Occupation: The ‘oxygen’ of the
peace lobby,” Terra Incognita, May 31).

It’s as if the international
movement against South Africa’s system of apartheid went into mourning the day
Nelson Mandela was released from prison because its members, rather than caring
for black South Africans, were keen to keep their jobs. It’s as if the
anti-Communist West did not, as The New York Times headlined it, “exult” at the
fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of tyranny across Eastern Europe. It’s as
if health workers would mourn if AIDS or cancer were cured.